O’Halloran dominates BSB season opener at Oulton Park
Jason O’Halloran carries his pre-season form into the new campaign with a sensational Oulton Park hat-trick
If the BSB paddock wasn’t already worried about the threat that Jason O’Halloran poses this year, they certainly will be now. Three races. Three victories. 75 points in the bag. Job done. There’s an aura surrounding O’Halloran this year after a strong pre-season campaign. His confidence is, rightly so, through the roof and he’s at one with the Yamaha R1. He won two races by overtaking Christian Iddon on the final lap. He stalked, waited, inspected some possible overtaking manoeuvres, and then pounced; first at Lodge and then at Island. Both corners are tough places to put a move on somebody and make it stick – proving just how strong O’Halloran is. Not once did he look worried or out of control. It appears O’Halloran has reached the next level in his BSB career and he’s going to be hard to beat in 2021, there’s no doubt about that. Dare we say that there’s almost a Josh Brookes-esque hype surrounding him right now. He has the bike, mentality, and is now at the start of his fourth year in the McAMS team. In contrast it’s been a busy rider, and bike, transfer market this year so not many on the grid have anything close to the same level of continuity.
Of course, this all stems from his breakout 2020 campaign. Free from injuries and bad luck, O’Halloran was finally able to show people what he’s capable of. Last year’s performances changed the Aussie’s entire attitude towards the off-season. The worrying and stress regarding the status of the bike was gone.
Instead, he could relax, as much as riders ever can, and develop the mindset of being a multiple BSB race winner. One man who has witnessed this first-hand is crew chief Barry Stanley, who joined the team for last year’s campaign. With O’Halloran teaching himself some of the technical parts of racing prior to and throughout that campaign, the duo share and exchange ideas and put them to the test without ever losing sight of what works. “He’s open-minded,” Stanley told MCN at Oulton Park. “He doesn’t have it set in his mind
‘It appears he has reached the next level’
that his idea will do this or that. He’ll go out and he’ll bring unbiased, constructive feedback. He always tells the truth, and he never blames the bike. I think he likes the structure of it. We always have a plan to start with, we stick to that plan, and we’ll just change it as we go along as needed. I think that may have helped with his confidence as well.
“We’re on the same path and we communicate really well. He’s a down-to-earth bloke. Sometimes egos get in the way but there’s none of that with him. He doesn’t take constructive criticism as a fault. The only way to improve is to learn by your mistakes and if you think you don’t make mistakes, you’re never going to learn anything. I think that’s a strength with him too. You can be frank, there’s no communication that’s a problem.” McAMS Yamaha teammate Tarran Mackenzie also showcased clear improvements. He secured three top sixes, but more importantly he was able to perform on Friday and Saturday. No crashes or bike problems during free practice, and his first front-row qualifying position since Snetterton in 2019. Historically, Oulton hasn’t been a strong circuit for Mackenzie, so these results should bode well for the season ahead.